Gettysburg Licensed Battlefield Guide Ed Suplee, is standing near the marker to the field hospital for the 32nd Massachusetts Infantry Regiment in the area of the “Stony Hill.” The rock was used to shelter the wounded and the field hospital staff from incoming rounds during the Battle of Gettysburg on July 2, 1863. This view was taken facing west at approximately 3:00 PM on Sunday, May 24, 2009.

Although many structures in and around the Gettysburg have signs/markers signifying that they were a hospital during or following the battle, few field hospitals approximately 100 yards behind the battlelines are so marked. One of the few is the field hospital to the 32nd Massachusetts Infantry in the Stony Hill/Loop area. The 32nd Massachusetts fought in this area bordering the Wheatfield on July 2, 1863. Gettysburg Licensed Battlefield Guide Ed Suplee shows us their movements.

This map shows the location of where our 32nd Massachusetts Field Hospital videos were produced. Videos #1-#2 were on the Stony Hill near the site of the first 32nd Massachusetts field hospital. Video #3 was taken at the 32nd Massachusetts monument and right flank marker on the Stony Hill. Video #4 was taken on DeTrobriand Avenue giving a perspective of how Anderson’s Georgia Brigade attacked the 32nd Massachusetts. This map was created facing north at approximately 9:15 PM on Tuesday, June 2, 2009.

A closer view of the plaque on the rock. This view was taken facing west at approximately 3:00 PM on Sunday, May 24, 2009.

In Video #1 Gettysburg Licensed Battlefield Guide Ed Suplee is standing near the field hospital marker for the 32nd Massachusetts. He is a graduate of Washington and Lee, a former army officer, and insurance executive. Ed has been a Licensed Battlefield Guide since 2004. He introduces himself and explains a little of the medical structure in the United States army. This view was taken facing west at approximately 3:00 PM on Sunday, May 24, 2009.

To give us an idea of where the field hospital was located, the Irish Brigade Monument is on the left (south) side of the road. On the right (north) side of the road is the monument to the 66th New York. On top of the rock is the monument to the 5th Michigan. The plaque for the 32nd Massachusetts field hospital is on the farthest rock to the right in this view. The hospital staff of the 32nd Massachusetts used the rocks on the right side of the road as a shelter from Confederate fire first coming from the left (south) and later from the southwest and west. The battleline for the 32nd Massachusetts was approximately 100 yards to the west of this position. This view was taken facing west at approximately 3:00 PM on Sunday, May 24, 2009.

In Video #2 Gettysburg Licensed Battlefield Guide Ed Suplee gives us an introduction to Surgeon Zabdiel Boylston Adams, who placed the field hospital very close to the Union lines on July 2, 1863. This view was taken facing west at approximately 3:00 PM on Sunday, May 24, 2009.

Zabdiel Boylston Adams (1829-1902) graduated from Bowdoin College, and received his medical degree in 1853 from Harvard University. He served as an army surgeon during the American Civil War with the 32nd Massachusetts Infantry Regiment. He was later a Captain of Company B, 56th Massachusetts Infantry, and a breveted Major. After the war, he had a medical practice in Framingham, Massachusetts, and was medical examiner of the Eighth Middlesex District from 1890 to 1902. He was an ardent advocate of vaccination. This view was taken facing west at approximately 3:00 PM on Sunday, May 24, 2009.

Ed shows us the direction in which we are now leaving this area by the field hospital and the Irish Brigade monument… This view was taken facing southwest at approximately 3:00 PM on Sunday, May 24, 2009.

…to go approximately 100 yards to visit the pup tent monument of the 32nd Massachusetts Infantry Regiment. The monument to the 110th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment is in the left background. This view was taken facing southeast at approximately 3:00 PM on Sunday, May 24, 2009.

Ed Suplee is now standing by the right flank marker of the 32nd Massachusetts, although he believes that their right was actually farther up the Stony Hill or to the right (west). The monuments in the background include the 8th New Jersey on the left, and the 110th Pennsylvania above the left flank marker of the 22nd Massachusetts Infantry Regiment. George T. Anderson’s Georgia Brigade attacked from the woods towards this position the afternoon of July 2, 1863. This view was taken facing southeast at approximately 3:00 PM on Sunday, May 24, 2009.

In Video #3 Ed Suplee is standing shows us the battleline of the 32nd Massachusetts, and he emphasizes that they were to be in reserve here on the Stony Hill. This view was taken facing southeast to southwest to south at approximately 3:00 PM on Sunday, May 24, 2009.

Ed has moved off the Stony Hill, and is now standing on DeTrobriand Avenue. The Rose Farmhouse is in the center and right background, and Rose’s Woods are in the left background. This view was taken facing southwest at approximately 3:00 PM on Sunday, May 24, 2009.

In Video #4 Ed has moved off the Stony Hill, and is now standing on DeTrobriand Avenue. He will show us how Anderson’s Georgians attacked from the direction of the Rose Farm (shown in the background), and Rose’s Woods towards the Stony Hill. This view was taken facing southwest to south to northeast to north at approximately 3:00 PM on Sunday, May 24, 2009.

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